Star Trek: Renegades

[BillJ]

Excuse me, I need to search for my smallest violin. It's here somewhere. I'll leave you to wrap your head around the apparently unthinkable prospect of cost overruns on shoestring budgets in the meantime.

Yet, for the longest time, fan films were able to be produced without constantly asking fans for more and more money.

 

[BigJake]

^ But then for the longest time, fan films weren't doing anything of remotely this scale and ambition.

(I mean, I don't care if you think it "feels like a fan film" or not, you surely can't be under the illusion that what's onscreen in that trailer is easy to do for free. Right?)

 

[Tom]

Back in the old days when I was young, for entertainment we just stared at the sun all day until our eyes burst into flames. I guess things have come a long way, the bar is rising higher. Now, I have to sell my garage because I cant make fan films there any more .

 

[Amaris]

I just watched the trailer, and it was okay. The difference between the more experienced actors and the less experienced actors is immediately evident, even in the trailer. It also made me think less Star Trek, and more Transmorphers and The Day The Earth Stopped. Yes, I realize it's a fan film, and that the budget is small, but that shouldn't matter if the story is good. Quite frankly, it all feels hokey at best, to the point where I expect Kirk Cameron to appear any minute and tell me why Jesus is angry with me.

 

[Campe]

Ambition is one thing and this has it in droves. The effects are amazing. There's a lot of names in it. But it doesn't have my attention. The story seems paper thin at best. The performances are pretty wooden. Oh sure, I may watch it someday. But I'm in no hurry to. And based on what I see from the trailer, it's not something I'd watch on a regular basis.

I'm with whomever suggested that there needs to be a twinge of hope. Where's the optimistic future? This is supposed to be Star Trek. Not War Trek.

 

[Kemaiku]

I expect Kirk Cameron to appear any minute and tell me why Jesus is angry with me.

Because you're not thrusting your hard earned money into the screen in a vein attempt to give it to their Kickstarter, that's why, why do you hate hard working actors J. ?

 

[Amaris]

I expect Kirk Cameron to appear any minute and tell me why Jesus is angry with me.

Because you're not thrusting your hard earned money into the screen in a vein attempt to give it to their Kickstarter, that's why, why do you hate hard working actors J. ?

They task me. They task me and I shall have them!

 

[JD]

I looks pretty good to me. I've been following this since it started on Facebook, and I'm really looking forward to seeing it.
Tom, I noticed you keep saying "we", how were you involved?
I have to admit, when I watch these movies, I mainly just watch it for the fun of seeing the Trek actors return to their roles, and if I manage to get an entertaining movie/episode out of it that's all the better.
I don't have a problem with them asking for money to help produce these kinds of things. If it allows us to continue to get fan films/series this ambitious I'm all for it. Honestly, if I had the extra money I probably would contribute.

 

[Cromwell]

It looks really good!

I saw all the criticism up-thread and, I suppose, I now know what it must feel like for the nuTrek fans when I start going off in that direction.

Whether it will, or will not, appeal to non-fans isn't something I can speak for. I, of course, wish we lived in a world where it wouldn't have to appeal to them.

Here's why I'll always prefer fan-made shows over the reboot, no matter their quality; I'll never be hit with the feeling that the people making it are ashamed to be making it.

Also, is there any information on the Breen character? Whose side is he on?

Oh... God... I'm trying not to get too hyped... but... it's... just... too... hard!

 

[Maurice]

See, this is what I don't get: you don't have to make a trailer that sells the effects and another trailer that sells the story. A GOOD trailer can service both and get an audience excited because there is at least one thing that grabs them. A good trailer is actually like a little film with its own tiny narrative arc.

Fanfilm trailers, this one included, routinely fail at this. Shame.

Finally, to be fair, crowd-funding is nothing new. "The Tressaurian Intersection" was in part crowd-funded (though that was a smallish portion of the total cost). What is new is this deluge of "GIVE US VAST AMOUNTS OF CASH TO SAVE THE OLD/PRIME STAR TREK" drumbeat.

 

[Amaris]

I will see it when it comes out, although I'll likely count all of the slow pauses. One of the things that many fanfilms suffer from, and this is also true of low budget productions like The Asylum, or Cloud Ten, is a lack of judicious editing. Scenes go on too long, too many pregnant pauses that don't pay off, meaningful looks that have no meaning whatsoever, and so on. Even in the trailer itself, there were such moments, and all it managed to do was distract me.

There were also some "weak actor playing strong character" moments that really turned me off. It's like what happens when kids pretend to be He-man. It's adorable when they're squeaking out "I have the power!" and brandishing their plastic sword, not so much when it's coming from a 30/40 year old.

Then there's the Christian Bale syndrome, where actors are trying their damndest to sound gravelly and bad-ass. That's related to the "weak actor playing strong character" moments, and it's quite present in the trailer. Strong actors can't always pull it off, either. I'm a fan of Brent Spiner, for example, but Data's line in Insurrection, "saddle up, lock and load" was just the dumbest, eye-rolling line of many in the film. This film looks like one long version of that line.

All of that said, the trailer leaves me cold. I'm hoping the film itself doesn't, but it does concern me. I realize I'm being rather critical, but if someone is presenting something as being worthy of a mainline series on television, I will judge it as such.

 

[Squiggy]

I just plain don't like the uniforms. I get why you had to change them, but they look like they were cobbled together with scrap material from Hobby Lobby. Too busy.

In all, it just doesn't fell like Trek to me. It's generic sci-fi with Trek elements.

 

[USS Intrepid]

I enjoyed the trailer. The Starfleet costumes really don't work for me at all though.

 

[BigJake]

I realize I'm being rather critical, but if someone is presenting something as being worthy of a mainline series on television, I will judge it as such.

I honestly do wish they'd just let the "we're producing a pilot episode for CBS" thing go. I've never heard of networks picking up pre-made pilot episodes from outside parties, and the angle lets them in for all manner of needless flak; they'd get fairer hearing if they just let the project stand on its own merits as a fan-film.

As for the quality of the trailer itself, I think Maurice is right that it lacks a clear arc and that this is a flaw -- there's too much going on to give us a real story to focus on and anticipate. But I'm impressed at how far the effects work has come and I don't have nearly as harsh an assessment of the acting as some appear to do (it's at the very least on a par with old productions like Andromeda or Babylon 5, though that might seem to be damning with faint praise). On the whole as fan-films go, that stuff this ambitious is happening is pretty amazing.

I also think the different "feel" is one of its assets. I love some of the fan-film projects that revel in concentrated nostalgia, like ST:C, but I don't look for all of them to be like that.

 

[JarodRussell]

It's a curious mismatch. I'm used to seeing these actors in shows that look and sound MUCH better. This one looks really cheap. The standard "The Lightworks" look of the space scenes isn't helping in that regard either.

The cinematography is pretty awful, which in this day and age, and with that talent involved, is extremely disappointing. You can find independent films at the same budget level with MUCH better cinematography than that.

 

[Amaris]

I realize I'm being rather critical, but if someone is presenting something as being worthy of a mainline series on television, I will judge it as such.

I honestly do wish they'd just let the "we're producing a pilot episode for CBS" thing go. I've never heard of networks picking up pre-made pilot episodes from outside parties, and the angle lets them in for all manner of needless flak; they'd get fairer hearing if they just let the project stand on its own merits as a fan-film.

As for the quality of the trailer itself, I think Maurice is right that it lacks a clear arc and that this is a flaw -- there's too much going on to give us a real story to focus on and anticipate. But I'm impressed at how far the effects work has come and I don't have nearly as harsh an assessment of the acting as some appear to do (it's at the very least on a par with old productions like Andromeda or Babylon 5, though that might seem to be damning with faint praise). On the whole as fan-films go, that stuff this ambitious is happening is pretty amazing.

I also think the different "feel" is one of its assets. I love some of the fan-film projects that revel in concentrated nostalgia, like ST:C, but I don't look for all of them to be like that.

Good points, and I'm really not trying to hate on the film. Fan films have come a long way since a couple of kids trying to make a Star Trek film in their basement. I am often impressed by the effort made. ST:C is one of my favorite productions, because you can see the massive amount of effort that's poured into every episode. I loved Starship Exeter, for setting itself in the TOS universe but giving us a different crew to watch.

This new production has experienced people behind it, like Tim Russ, someone I greatly admire, so I tend to expect great things. I wouldn't doubt that it's coloring my viewpoint a little as well, and I do sincerely hope the production ends up being successful as a fan film.

 

[BillJ]

I honestly do wish they'd just let the "we're producing a pilot episode for CBS" thing go.

Without that carrot, they may have never reached the funding levels they needed.

 

[BigJake]

I honestly do wish they'd just let the "we're producing a pilot episode for CBS" thing go.

Without that carrot, they may have never reached the funding levels they needed.

I for one would have been more likely to donate without it. The people attached to the project and its premise are more meaningful to me, but the CBS thing brings a feeling of unrealistic expectation.

 

[urbandefault]

Movie trailers are like a whole 'nother art.

Don't the big studios or production companies have teams that just make trailers? Can't remember where I heard that, but it makes sense.

I won't judge a fan film by the trailers. There'll be plenty of time for (for me) to critique when the film is released.

 

[Mudd]

I honestly do wish they'd just let the "we're producing a pilot episode for CBS" thing go.

Or, as Edith Keeler put it "A lie is a poor way to say 'Hello.'"